Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Performance of National Bank of Kenya Limited

Abstract

The dynamic environmental changes significantly influence how organizations carry on their day to day activities and managers constantly have to be on their toes to be able to proactively respond to the changes affecting their business. The bigger the organization the more it is influenced by the external environment and its changes. The Kenyan banking industry has continued to face increased competition. As a result, if institutions in the banking sector neglect to expeditiously institute strategic responses to the challenges that come with the changes in their environment, they are exposed to incurring great losses and losing their competitive niche. The objectives of this study was to determine sustainable competitive advantages enjoyed by National Bank of Kenya Limited and to establish whether sustainable competitive advantages enjoyed influence performance of National Bank of Kenya Limited. The study was guided by resource based view theory and the dynamic capability theory. The research design adopted in this study was a case study approach. The study used an interview guide as the primary source of data which was administered to NBK. Data analysis was executed using content analysis which was guided by the objectives of the study. The study concludes that National Bank of Kenya Limited has implemented several competitive strategies which have seen its increase in market presence. The bank adopted strategies alliances, cost minimization, use of advanced technology, applied partnership strategy, applied collaboration strategy, applied joint venture strategy and applied outsourcing strategy in meeting its strategic goals and objectives. This has further resulted into an upward surge in the number of customers at the bank over the past two years, the loan book portfolio has improved and the profitability of the bank has also improved as a consequence of these conceited efforts. This study recommends that the bank should adopt advanced technology that is safe which would easily be used to attract new customer base increasing its capability for achieving market growth and competitive advantage at the market place. The study recommended that NBK needs to invest heavily in technology which was constantly changing, which helps in attracting and retaining customers while improving quality of service, a case in point, system where customer can be informed on any changes that has affected their accounts in bank like any deposits or withdraws and they can have choice to allow or reject such transactions directly on their phone.